Wednesday, May 7, 2014

9: AV Mapping of the Ruins of St. Paul's Macao

In class, as the sole example of the colonial baroque in East
Asia, we discussed the ruins of St. Paul's in Macao (the former
Portuguese trade hub on the pearl river delta, long since supplanted by Hong
Kong in importance), and the fact that there is an active Catholic following
that still utilize the standing facade as a processional gateway.

If the building had belonged to a much larger complex I
would have been satisfied with this answer, but it is not much larger than the
stairwell plus the original groundplan of the church. And so I went searching
for other uses.

As it turns out, the facade is occasionally used as a
backdrop for theatrical performances and for AV display lightshows. Now I had
seen such things done with facades in Europe, but never
before in Asia, so dont ask me what the following means.